Search results for: decision support system (DSS)

Authors: Tayyaba Azim, Bibi Amina

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The increase in the popularity of opinion mining with the rapid growth in the availability of social networks has attracted a lot of opportunities for research in the various domains of Sentiment Analysis and Natural Language Processing (NLP) using Artificial Intelligence approaches. The latest trend allows the public to actively use the internet for analyzing an individual’s opinion and explore the effectiveness of published facts. The main theme of this research is to account the public opinion on the most crucial and extensively discussed development projects, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), considered as a game changer due to its promise of bringing economic prosperity to the region. So far, to the best of our knowledge, the theme of CPEC has not been analyzed for sentiment determination through the ML approach. This research aims to demonstrate the use of ML approaches to spontaneously analyze the public sentiment on Twitter tweets particularly about CPEC. Support Vector Machine SVM is used for classification task classifying tweets into positive, negative and neutral classes. Word2vec and TF-IDF features are used with the SVM model, a comparison of the trained model on manually labelled tweets and automatically generated lexicon is performed. The contributions of this work are: Development of a sentiment analysis system for public tweets on CPEC subject, construction of an automatic generation of the lexicon of public tweets on CPEC, different themes are identified among tweets and sentiments are assigned to each theme. It is worth noting that the applications of web mining that empower e-democracy by improving political transparency and public participation in decision making via social media have not been explored and practised in Pakistan region on CPEC yet.

Keywords: machine learning, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, support vector machine, Word2vec

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Authors: Rania Ajmi, Faiza Allouche Khebour, Aude Nuscia Taibi, Sirine Essasi

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Urban green spaces (UGS) as an important contributor can be a significant part of sustainable development. A spatial method was employed to assess and map the spatial distribution of UGS in five districts in Sousse, Tunisia. Ecological management of UGS is an essential factor for the sustainable development of the city; hence the municipality of Sousse has decided to support the districts according to different green spaces characters. And to implement this policy, (1) a new GIS web application was developed, (2) then the implementation of the various green spaces was carried out, (3) a spatial mapping of UGS using Quantum GIS was realized, and (4) finally a data processing and statistical analysis with RStudio programming language was executed. The intersection of the results of the spatial and statistical analyzes highlighted the presence of an imbalance in terms of the spatial UGS distribution in the study area. The discontinuity between the coast and the city's green spaces was not designed in a spirit of network and connection, hence the lack of a greenway that connects these spaces to the city. Finally, this GIS support will be used to assess and monitor green spaces in the city of Sousse by decision-makers and will contribute to improve the well-being of the local population.

Keywords: distributions, GIS, green space, imbalance, spatial analysis

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Authors: Benny Benyamin Nasution, Rahmat Widia Sembiring, Abdul Rahman Dalimunthe, Nursiah Mustari, Nisfan Bahri, Berta br Ginting, Riadil Akhir Lubis, Rita Tavip Megawati, Indri Dithisari

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The earth coordinate system is an important part of an attempt for earthquake forecasting, such as the one using Single Layer Hierarchical Graph Neuron (SLHGN). However, there are a number of problems that need to be worked out before the coordinate system can be utilized for the forecaster. One example of those is that SLHGN requires that the focused area of an earthquake must be constructed in a grid-like form. In fact, within the current earth coordinate system, the same longitude-difference would produce different distances. This can be observed at the distance on the Equator compared to distance at both poles. To deal with such a problem, a coordinate system has been developed, so that it can be used to support the ongoing earthquake forecasting using SLHGN. Two important issues have been developed in this system: 1) each location is not represented through two-value (longitude and latitude), but only a single value, 2) the conversion of the earth coordinate system to the x-y cartesian system requires no angular formulas, which is therefore fast. The accuracy and the performance have not been measured yet, since earthquake data is difficult to obtain. However, the characteristics of the SLHGN results show a very promising answer.

Keywords: hierarchical graph neuron, multidimensional hierarchical graph neuron, single layer hierarchical graph neuron, natural disaster forecasting, earthquake forecasting, earth coordinate system

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Authors: Hang Ju, Changmin Zhu

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The development level of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) can strongly reflect national defense strength as an important spatial information infrastructure. BDS can be not only used for military purposes, such as intelligence gathering, nuclear explosion monitoring, emergency communications, but also for location services, transportation, mapping, precision agriculture. In order to ensure the national defense security and the wide application of BDS in civil and military areas, BDS must be autonomous and controllable. As a complex system of knowledge-intensive, knowledge transformation runs through the whole process of research and development, production, operation, and maintenance of BDS. Based on the perspective of knowledge transformation, this paper expounds on the meaning of socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization of knowledge transformation, and the coupling relationship of autonomy and control on the basis of analyzing the status quo and problems of the autonomy and control of BDS. The autonomous and controllable framework of BDS based on knowledge transformation is constructed from six dimensions of management capability, R&D capability, technical capability, manufacturing capability, service support capability, and application capability. It can provide support for the smooth implementation of information security policy, provide a reference for the autonomy and control of the upstream and downstream industrial chains in Beidou, and provide a reference for the autonomous and controllable research of aerospace components, military measurement test equipment, and other related industries.

Keywords: knowledge transformation, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, autonomy and control, framework

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Authors: Awe Ayodeji Samson, Adeuja Yetunde Omowunmi

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Corruption is a ‘monster’ that can consume a whole nation, continent and even the world if it is not destroyed while it is still immature; It grows in the mind of the people, takes over their thinking and guides their decision-making process. Corruption snowballs into socio-economic catastrophe that might be difficult to deal with. Corruption which is a disease of the mind can be alleviated in Africa and the world at large by transforming a Corruption-Prone Mind to a Corruption-Immune Mind and to achieve this, we have to change our value system because the use of anti-graft agencies alone is not enough. Therefore, we have to fight corruption from the inside and the outside. Value System is the principle of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or a social group; the reviewing and reordering of our value system is the solution to the problem of corruption as proposed by this research because the African society has become a ‘Money and Power Driven Society’ where the ‘I am worth concept’ which is a problematic concept has created an ‘Aggressive Society’ with grasping and money-grabbing individuals. We place more priority on money and the display of opulence. Hence, this has led to a ‘Triangular Society’ where minority is lavishing in plenty and majority is gasping for little. The get rich quick syndrome, the ethnicity syndrome, weakened educational system are signs of the prevalence of corruption in Africa This research has analyzed role and impact of the change in our value system in the fight against corruption in Africa and has therefore proposed the change in our value system as the way forward in the fight against corruption in Africa.

Keywords: corruption-prone mind, corruption-immune mind, triangular society, aggressive society, money and power-driven society

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Authors: Michel Patiño-Sáenz, Martín Haissiner, Jorge Martínez-Cotrina, Daniel Pastor, Hernando Santamaría-García, Maria-Alejandra Tangarife, Agustin Ibáñez, Sandra Baez

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It has been shown that gruesome descriptions of harm can increase the punishment given to a transgressor. This biasing effect is mediated by negative emotions, which are elicited upon the presentation of gruesome descriptions. However, there is a lack of studies inquiring the influence of such descriptions on moral decision-making in people involved in the criminal justice system. Such populations are of special interest since they have experience dealing with gruesome evidence, but also formal education on how to assess evidence and gauge the appropriate punishment according to the law. Likewise, they are expected to be objective and rational when performing their duty, because their decisions can impact profoundly people`s lives. Considering these antecedents, the objective of this study was to explore the influence gruesome written descriptions on moral decision-making in this group of people. To that end, we recruited attorneys, judges and public prosecutors (Criminal justice group, CJ, n=30) whose field of specialty is criminal law. In addition, we included a control group of people who did not have a formal education in law (n=30), but who were paired in age and years of education with the CJ group. All participants completed an online, Spanish-adapted version of a moral decision-making task, which was previously reported in the literature and also standardized and validated in the Latin-American context. A series of text-based stories describing two characters, one inflicting harm on the other, were presented to participants. Transgressor's intentionality (accidental vs. intentional harm) and language (gruesome vs. plain) used to describe harm were manipulated employing a within-subjects and a between-subjects design, respectively. After reading each story, participants were asked to rate (a) the harmful action's moral adequacy, (b) the amount of punishment deserving the transgressor and (c) how damaging was his behavior. Results showed main effects of group, intentionality and type of language on all dependent measures. In both groups, intentional harmful actions were rated as significantly less morally adequate, were punished more severely and were deemed as more damaging. Moreover, control subjects deemed more damaging and punished more severely any type of action than the CJ group. In addition, there was an interaction between intentionality and group. People in the control group rated harmful actions as less morally adequate than the CJ group, but only when the action was accidental. Also, there was an interaction between intentionality and language on punishment ratings. Controls punished more when harm was described using gruesome language. However, that was not the case of people in the CJ group, who assigned the same amount of punishment in both conditions. In conclusion, participants with job experience in the criminal justice system or criminal law differ in the way they make moral decisions. Particularly, it seems that they are less sensitive to the biasing effect of gruesome evidence, which is probably explained by their formal education or their experience in dealing with such evidence. Nonetheless, more studies are needed to determine the impact this phenomenon has on the fulfillment of their duty.

Keywords: criminal justice system, emotions, gruesome descriptions, intentionality, moral decision-making

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Authors: Fidelia A. Orji, Julita Vassileva

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This research aims to develop machine learning models for students' academic performance and study strategy prediction, which could be generalized to all courses in higher education. Key learning attributes (intrinsic, extrinsic, autonomy, relatedness, competence, and self-esteem) used in building the models are chosen based on prior studies, which revealed that the attributes are essential in students’ learning process. Previous studies revealed the individual effects of each of these attributes on students’ learning progress. However, few studies have investigated the combined effect of the attributes in predicting student study strategy and academic performance to reduce the dropout rate. To bridge this gap, we used Scikit-learn in python to build five machine learning models (Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbour, Random Forest, Linear/Logistic Regression, and Support Vector Machine) for both regression and classification tasks to perform our analysis. The models were trained, evaluated, and tested for accuracy using 924 university dentistry students' data collected by Chilean authors through quantitative research design. A comparative analysis of the models revealed that the tree-based models such as the random forest (with prediction accuracy of 94.9%) and decision tree show the best results compared to the linear, support vector, and k-nearest neighbours. The models built in this research can be used in predicting student performance and study strategy so that appropriate interventions could be implemented to improve student learning progress. Thus, incorporating strategies that could improve diverse student learning attributes in the design of online educational systems may increase the likelihood of students continuing with their learning tasks as required. Moreover, the results show that the attributes could be modelled together and used to adapt/personalize the learning process.

Keywords: classification models, learning strategy, predictive modeling, regression models, student academic performance, student motivation, supervised machine learning

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Authors: Marc Sango, Olimpia Hoinaru, Christophe Gransart, Laurence Duchien

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Ontologies offer a means for representing and sharing information in many domains, particularly in complex domains. For example, it can be used for representing and sharing information of System Requirement Specification (SRS) of complex systems like the SRS of ERTMS/ETCS written in natural language. Since this system is a real-time and critical system, generic ontologies, such as OWL and generic ERTMS ontologies provide minimal support for modeling temporal information omnipresent in these SRS documents. To support the modeling of temporal information, one of the challenges is to enable representation of dynamic features evolving in time within a generic ontology with a minimal redesign of it. The separation of temporal information from other information can help to predict system runtime operation and to properly design and implement them. In addition, it is helpful to provide a reasoning and querying techniques to reason and query temporal information represented in the ontology in order to detect potential temporal inconsistencies. Indeed, a user operation, such as adding a new constraint on existing planning constraints can cause temporal inconsistencies, which can lead to system failures. To address this challenge, we propose a lightweight 3-layer temporal Quality of Service (QoS) ontology for representing, reasoning and querying over temporal and non-temporal information in a complex domain ontology. Representing QoS entities in separated layers can clarify the distinction between the non QoS entities and the QoS entities in an ontology. The upper generic layer of the proposed ontology provides an intuitive knowledge of domain components, specially ERTMS/ETCS components. The separation of the intermediate QoS layer from the lower QoS layer allows us to focus on specific QoS Characteristics, such as temporal or integrity characteristics. In this paper, we focus on temporal information that can be used to predict system runtime operation. To evaluate our approach, an example of the proposed domain ontology for handover operation, as well as a reasoning rule over temporal relations in this domain-specific ontology, are given.

Keywords: system requirement specification, ERTMS/ETCS, temporal ontologies, domain ontologies

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Authors: Martin Doran, Roy Sterritt, George Wilkie

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NASA, ESA, and NSSC space agencies have plans to put planetary rovers on Mars in 2020. For these future planetary rovers to succeed, they will heavily depend on sensors to detect obstacles. This will also become of vital importance in the future, if rovers become less dependent on commands received from earth-based control and more dependent on self-configuration and self-decision making. These planetary rovers will face harsh environments and the possibility of hardware failure is high, as seen in missions from the past. In this paper, we focus on using Autonomic principles where self-healing, self-optimization, and self-adaption are explored using the MAPE-K model and expanding this model to encapsulate the attributes such as Awareness, Analysis, and Adjustment (AAA-3). In the experimentation, a Pioneer P3-DX research robot is used to simulate a planetary rover. The sonar sensors on the P3-DX robot are used to simulate the sensors on a planetary rover (even though in reality, sonar sensors cannot operate in a vacuum). Experiments using the P3-DX robot focus on how our software system can be adapted with the loss of sonar sensor functionality. The autonomic manager system is responsible for the decision making on how to make use of remaining ‘enabled’ sonars sensors to compensate for those sonar sensors that are ‘disabled’. The key to this research is that the robot can still detect objects even with reduced sonar sensor capability.

Keywords: autonomic, self-adaption, self-healing, self-optimization

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Authors: Rukhsana Kausar, Nida Zafar

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The present research investigated socio-demographic predictors of divorce adjustment in Pakistani women. The sample comprised of 80 divorced women from different areas of Lahore. Self developed Socio-Demographic predictor scale and Divorce Adjustment Scale by (Fisher, 2001) was used for assessment. Analyses showed that working divorced women living with joint family system are more adjusted as compared to non-working divorced women living with joint family system. Women having one child are more adjusted as compared to women having more than one child. Findings highlight importance of presence of father for healthy development of adolescents. Adjustment of divorcee women was positively associated with income, social support from the family, having favorable attitudes toward marital dissolution prior to divorce, and being the partner who initiated the divorce. In addition, older women showed some evidence of poorer adjustment than did younger women. Findings highlight importance of support for divorce adjustment.

Keywords: socio-demographic, adjustment, women, divorce

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Authors: Kang-Mo Jung

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Least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) is a penalized regression which considers both fitting and generalization ability of a model. However, the squared loss function is very sensitive to even single outlier. We proposed a weighted absolute deviation loss function for the robustness of the estimates in least absolute deviation support vector machine. The proposed estimates can be obtained by a quadratic programming algorithm. Numerical experiments on simulated datasets show that the proposed algorithm is competitive in view of robustness to outliers.

Keywords: least absolute deviation, quadratic programming, robustness, support vector machine, weight

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Authors: Brian Connett, Bryan O'Halloran

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Systems assets within critical infrastructures were seemingly safe from the exploitation or attack by nefarious cyberspace actors. Now, critical infrastructure is a target and the resources to exploit the cyber physical systems exist. These resources are characterized in terms of patience, stealth, replication-ability and extraordinary robustness. System owners are obligated to maintain a high level of protection measures. The difficulty lies in knowing when to fortify a critical infrastructure against an impending attack. Models currently exist that demonstrate the value of knowing the attacker’s capabilities in the cyber realm and the strength of the target. The shortcomings of these models are that they are not designed to respond to the inherent fast timing of an attack, an impetus that can be derived based on open-source reporting, common knowledge of exploits of and the physical architecture of the infrastructure. A useful model will inform systems owners how to align infrastructure architecture in a manner that is responsive to the capability, willingness and timing of the attacker. This research group has used an existing theoretical model for estimating parameters, and through analysis, to develop a decision tool for would-be target owners. The continuation of the research develops further this model by estimating the variable parameters. Understanding these parameter estimations will uniquely position the decision maker to posture having revealed the vulnerabilities of an attacker’s, persistence and stealth. This research explores different approaches to improve on current attacker-defender models that focus on cyber threats. An existing foundational model takes the point of view of an attacker who must decide what cyber resource to use and when to use it to exploit a system vulnerability. It is valuable for estimating parameters for the model, and through analysis, develop a decision tool for would-be target owners.

Keywords: critical infrastructure, cyber physical systems, modeling, exploitation

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Authors: Malay Niraj, Praveen Kumar

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The present study is a new approach for improving equipment life and Overall Equipment Efficiency (O.E.E.) through suitable maintenance practice with the help of value engineering. Value engineering is a one of the most powerful decision-making techniques which depend on many factors. The improvements are the result of recommendations made by multidisciplinary teams representing all parties involved. VE is a rigorous, systematic effort to improve the OEE and optimize the life cycle cost of a facility. The study describes problems in maintenance arising due to the absence of having clear criteria and strong decision constrain how to maintain failing equipment. Using factor comparisons, the study has been made between different maintenance practices and finally best maintenance practice based on value engineering technique has been selected.

Keywords: maintenance strategy, overall equipment efficiency, value engineering, decision-making

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Authors: Norbert Szulc, Cezary Wieczorkowski, Igor Baranowski

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In this paper, a control system that bridges the gap in support for Unmanned Surface Vessels in the PX4 Opensource Autopilot was developed. The system is designed for an omnidirectional water craft with four motors. A modular autopilot architecture design centred around publish-subscribe interprocess communication was used. The paper presents the implementation and integration process of a generic surface vehicle controller capable of driving any configuration of motors through the recently introduced in control allocator in PX4 autopilot. The proposed approach was successfully tested in a case study through implementation on the ASV Perkoz.

Keywords: control system, PX4, drones, rovers, surface vessels, omnidirectional

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Authors: Ephraim Daka, Maxim Kotsemir

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The National system Innovation (NSI) have recently proliferated as a vehicle for addressing poverty and national competitiveness in the developing countries. While several governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have adopted the developed countries’ models of innovation to local conditions, the Zambian case is rather unique. This study highlights conceptual and socioeconomic challenges directed to the performances of the NSI. The paper analyses science and technology strategies with the inclusion of “innovation” and its effect towards improving socioeconomic elements. The authors reviewed STI policy and national strategy documents, followed by interviews compared to economical regional and national data sets. The NSI and its related to inter-linkages and support mechanism to socioeconomic development were explored.

Keywords: national system of innovation, socioeconomics, development, Zambia

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Authors: Andra Blumberga, Uldis Bariss, Anna Kubule, Dagnija Blumberga

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European Union Energy Efficiency Directive provides a set of binding energy efficiency measures to reach. Each of the member states can use either energy efficiency obligation scheme or alternative policy measures or combination of both. Latvian government has decided to divide savings among obligation scheme (65%) and alternative measures (35%). This decision might lead to significant energy tariff increase hence impact on the national economy. To assess impact of alternative policy measures focusing on energy management scheme based on ISO 50001 and ability to decrease share of obligation scheme a System Dynamics modeling was used. Simulation results show that energy efficiency goal can be met with alternative policy measure to large energy consumers in industrial, tertiary and public sectors by applying the energy tax exemption for implementers of energy management system. A delay in applying alternative policy measures plays very important role in reaching the energy efficiency goal. One year delay in implementation of this policy measure reduces cumulative energy savings from 2016 to 2017 from 5200 GWh to 3000 GWh in 2020.

Keywords: system dynamics, energy efficiency, policy measure, energy management system, obligation scheme

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Authors: Mohammad Alawairdhi

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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) started gaining attention as late as the 1990s, and since then efforts are ongoing to define the domain’s precise specifications. There is yet no single agreed upon definition. However, a predominant majority perceives CRM as a mechanism for enhancing interaction with customers, thereby strengthening the relationship between a business and its clients. From the perspective of Information Technology (IT) companies, CRM systems can be viewed as facilitating software products or services to automate the marketing, selling and servicing functions of an organization. In this paper, we have proposed a Bluetooth enabled CRM system for small- and medium-scale organizations. In the proposed system, Bluetooth technology works as an automatic identification token in addition to its common use as a communication channel. The system comprises a server side accompanied by a user-interface support for both client and server sides. The system has been tested in two environments and users have expressed ease of use, convenience and understandability as major advantages of the proposed solution.

Keywords: customer relationship management, CRM, bluetooth, automatic identification token

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Authors: Eugenia P. Ramirez, Kevin Matthe Caramancion, Mia Eleazar

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Getting the attention of students is a constant challenge to the instructors/lecturers. Although in the computer laboratories some networking and entertainment websites are blocked, yet, these websites have unlimited ways of attracting students to get into it. Thus, when an instructor gives a specific set of instructions, some students may not be able to follow sequentially the steps that are given. The instructor has to physically go to the specific remote terminal and show the student the details. Sometimes, during an examination in laboratory set-up, a proctor may prefer to give detailed and text-written instructions rather than verbal instructions. Even the mere calling of a specific student at any time will distract the whole class especially when activities are being performed. What is needed is : An application software that is able to lock the student's monitor and at the same time display the instructor’s screen; a software that is powerful enough to process in its side alone and manipulate a specific user’s terminal in terms of free configuration that is, without restrictions at the server level is a required functionality for a modern and optimal server structure; a software that is able to send text messages to students, per terminal or in group will be a solution. These features are found in LabSupport. This paper outlines the LabSupport application software framework to efficiently manage computer laboratory sessions and will include different modules: screen viewer, demonstration mode, monitor locking system, text messaging, and class management. This paper's ultimate aim is to provide a system that increases instructor productivity.

Keywords: application software, broadcast messaging, class management, locking system

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Authors: Hamna Hamid, Kashmala Zaman

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between self-efficacy, resilience, and social support among clinical psychologists, counselors, and teachers of special schools. The study also assesses the gender differences in self-efficacy, resilience, social support, and vicarious trauma and also vicarious trauma differences among three professions, i.e., clinical psychologists, counselors, and teachers of special schools. A sample of 150 women and 97 men were handed out a set questionnaire to complete: a General Self-Efficacy Scale, Brief Resilience Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and Vicarious Trauma Scale. Results showed that there is a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy, resilience, and vicarious trauma. Women experience higher levels of vicarious trauma as compared to men. At the same time, clinical psychologists and counselors experience higher levels of vicarious trauma as compared to teachers of special schools. The moderation effect of social support is not significant towards resilience and vicarious trauma.

Keywords: self-efficacy, resilience, vicarious-trauma social-support, social support

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Authors: Nastaran Hajiheydari, Mohammad Soltani Delgosha

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Vendor (supplier) selection is a group decision-making (GDM) process, in which, based on some predetermined criteria, the experts’ preferences are provided in order to rank and choose the most desirable suppliers. In the real business environment, our attitudes or our choices would be made in an uncertain and indecisive situation could not be expressed in a crisp framework. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) could handle such situations in the best way. VIKOR method was developed to solve multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. This method, which is used to determine the compromised feasible solution with respect to the conflicting criteria, introduces a multi-criteria ranking index based on the particular measure of 'closeness' to the 'ideal solution'. Until now, there has been a little investigation of VIKOR with IFS, therefore we extended the intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) VIKOR to solve vendor selection problem under IF GDM environment. The present study intends to develop an IF VIKOR method in a GDM situation. Therefore, a model is presented to calculate the criterion weights based on entropy measure. Then, the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy weighted geometric (IFWG) operator utilized to obtain the total decision matrix. In the next stage, an approach based on the positive idle intuitionistic fuzzy number (PIIFN) and negative idle intuitionistic fuzzy number (NIIFN) was developed. Finally, the application of the proposed method to solve a vendor selection problem illustrated.

Keywords: group decision making, intuitionistic fuzzy set, intuitionistic fuzzy entropy measure, vendor selection, VIKOR

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Authors: Chitra Rajagopal, Indra Deo Kumar, Ruchi Joshi, Binoy Bhargavan

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Role of fighter planes in modern network centric military warfare scenarios has changed significantly in the recent past. New generation fighter planes have multirole capability of engaging both air and ground targets with high precision. Multirole aircraft undertakes missions such as Air to Air combat, Air defense, Air to Surface role (including Air interdiction, Close air support, Maritime attack, Suppression and Destruction of enemy air defense), Reconnaissance, Electronic warfare missions, etc. Designers have primarily focused on development of technologies to enhance the combat performance of the fighter planes and very little attention is given to human factor aspects of technologies. Unique physical and psychological challenges are imposed on the pilots to meet operational requirements during these missions. Newly evolved technologies have enhanced aircraft performance in terms of its speed, firepower, stealth, electronic warfare, situational awareness, and vulnerability reduction capabilities. This paper highlights the impact of emerging technologies on human factors for various military operations and missions. Technologies such as ‘cooperative knowledge-based systems’ to aid pilot’s decision making in military conflict scenarios as well as simulation technologies to enhance human performance is also studied as a part of research work. Current and emerging pilot protection technologies and systems which form part of the integrated life support systems in new generation fighter planes is discussed. System safety analysis application to quantify the human reliability in military operations is also studied.

Keywords: combat effectiveness, emerging technologies, human factors, systems safety analysis

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Authors: Zohra Mekranfar, Ahmed Saidi, Abdellah Mebrek

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This work aims to develop multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) and spatial data warehouse (SDW) methods, which will be integrated into a GIS according to a ‘GIS dominant’ approach. The GIS operating tools will be operational to operate the SDW. The MCDM methods can provide many solutions to a set of problems with various and multiple criteria. When the problem is so complex, integrating spatial dimension, it makes sense to combine the MCDM process with other approaches like data mining, ascending analyses, we present in this paper an experiment showing a geo-decisional methodology of SWD construction, On-line analytical processing (OLAP) technology which combines both basic multidimensional analysis and the concepts of data mining provides powerful tools to highlight inductions and information not obvious by traditional tools. However, these OLAP tools become more complex in the presence of the spatial dimension. The integration of OLAP with a GIS is the future geographic and spatial information solution. GIS offers advanced functions for the acquisition, storage, analysis, and display of geographic information. However, their effectiveness for complex spatial analysis is questionable due to their determinism and their decisional rigor. A prerequisite for the implementation of any analysis or exploration of spatial data requires the construction and structuring of a spatial data warehouse (SDW). This SDW must be easily usable by the GIS and by the tools offered by an OLAP system.

Keywords: data warehouse, GIS, MCDM, SOLAP

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Authors: Rosy Chaudhary, Pushpa Parajuli

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Background and Objectives: Informational support to family members has a significant potential for reducing this distress related to hospitalization of their patient into the critical care unit, enabling them to cope better and support the patient. The objective of the study is to assess family members’ perception of informational support, anxiety, satisfaction with care and to reveal the association with selected socio-demographic variables and to investigate the correlation between informational support, anxiety and satisfaction with care. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 39 family caregivers of patients admitted in critical care unit of BPKIHS(B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences). Consecutive sampling technique was used wherein data was collected over duration of one month using interview schedule. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 34.97 ± 10.64 and two third (66.70%) were male. Mean score for informational support was 25.72(SD = 5.66; theoretical range of 10 - 40). Mean anxiety was 10.41 (SD = 5.02; theoretical range of 7 - 21). Mean score for satisfaction with care was 40.77 (SD = 6.77; theoretical range of 14 - 64). A moderate positive correlation was found between informational support and satisfaction with care (r = 0.551, p < .001) and a moderate negative correlation was found between anxiety and satisfaction with care (r = -0.590; p = 0.000). No relationship was noted between informational support and anxiety. Conclusion: The informational support and satisfaction of the family caregivers with the care provided to their patients was satisfactory. More than three fourth of the family caregivers had anxiety; the factors associated being educational status of the caregivers, the family income and duration of visiting hours. There was positive correlation between informational support and satisfaction with care provided justifying the need for comprehensive information to the family caregivers by the health personnel. There was negative correlation between anxiety and satisfaction with care.

Keywords: anxiety, caregivers, critical care unit, informational support, family

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Authors: Gunawan Prayitno, Kakuya Matshusima, Kiyoshi Kobayashi

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Indonesia’s rural regions are characterized by wide-spread poverty, under-employment, and surplus of low-skilled labor. The aim of this paper is to empirically prove the effect of social ties (strong and weak tie) as social capital construct on households’ migration decision in the case of developing country (Indonesia). The methodology incorporated indicators of observe variables (four demographic attributes data: income, occupation, education, and family members) and indicators of latent variables (ties to neighbors, ties to community and sense of place) provided by responses to survey questions to aid in estimating the model. Using structural equation model that we employed in Mplus program, the result of our study shows that ties to community positively have a significant impact to the decision of respondents (migrate or not). Besides, education as observed variable directly influences the migration decisions. It seems that higher level of education have impact on migration decision. Our current model so far could explain the relation between social capital and migration decision choice.

Keywords: migration, ties to community, ties to neighbors, education

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Authors: Rana Tajammal Rashid

Abstract:

Federalism is a political system in which government power and responsibility are divided between a federal legislature and units of the state or provincial legislatures. This system provides the structure for the states having large territory and through that can manage the state affairs and administration easily. Many of the largest countries in the world are federations, like; The United States, Canada, India, Pakistan South Africa, Argentina, and Australia. Every large democratic nation has a federal system of government. This study will explore the feature and good governance of two developed countries Canada and Australia. This study will be helpful to the developing countries like Pakistan, India which have a federal form of structure to run the affairs of the state. In the federal system of Pakistan there are lot of issues and conflicts with the provinces with a comparative study of these two developed countries, i.e., Australia and Canada, our policy and decision maker political actors will understand in which way a state will successfully manage the issues related to federalism. This study will also provide the help to the students of comparative politics that how to analysis the different political system of the developed countries of the world.

Keywords: federalism, features of federalism, types of federalism, history of federalism, Australian federalism, Canadian federalism, federalism developments, executives, federal and provincial autonomy legislative, judicial

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Authors: A. Uludağ, F. G. Tufekci, N. Ceviz

Abstract:

Aim: The research has been carried out in order to evaluate caregiver burden, life satisfaction and received social support level of the parents whose children have congenital heart disease; to examine the relationship between the social supports received by them and caregiver burden and life satisfaction. Material and Method: The research which is descriptive and which is searching a relationship has been carried out between the dates June 7, 2012- June 30, 2014, in Erzurum Ataturk University Research and Application Hospital, Department of Pediatrics and Children Cardiology Polyclinic. In the research, it was collaborated with the parents (N = 157) who accepted to participate in, of children who were between the ages of 3 months- 12 years. While gathering the data, a questionnaire, Zarit Caregiver Burden, Life Satisfaction and Social Support Scales have been used. The statistics of the data acquired has been produced by using percentage distribution, mean, and variance and correlation analysis. Ethical principles are followed in the research. Results: In the research, caregiver burden, life satisfaction and social support level received from family (p < 0.05), have been determined higher in the parents whose children have serious congenital heart disease than that of parents whose children have slight disease and social support received from friends has been found lower. It has been determined that there is a strong relation (p < 0.001) through negative direction between both social support levels and caregiver burden of parents; and that there is a strong relation (p < 0.001) through positive direction between both support levels and life satisfaction. Conclusion: That Social Support is in a strong relation with Caregiver Burden through a negative direction and a strong relation with Life Satisfaction through positive direction in parents of all the children who have congenital heart disease requires social support systems to be reinforced. Parents can be led or guided so as to prompt social support systems more.

Keywords: congenital heart disease, child, parents, caregiver burden, life satisfaction, social support

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Authors: A. Luft, S. Bremen, N. Balc

Abstract:

The task of flexibility planning and design, just like factory planning, for example, is to create the long-term systemic framework that constitutes the restriction for short-term operational management. This is a strategic challenge since, due to the decision defect character of the underlying flexibility problem, multiple types of flexibility need to be considered over the course of various scenarios, production programs, and production system configurations. In this context, an evaluation model has been developed that integrates both conventional and additive resources on a basic task level and allows the quantification of flexibility enhancement in terms of mix and volume flexibility, complexity reduction, and machine capacity. The model helps companies to decide in early decision-making processes about the potential gains of implementing additive manufacturing technologies on a strategic level. For companies, it is essential to consider both additive and conventional manufacturing beyond pure unit costs. It is necessary to achieve an integrative view of manufacturing that incorporates both additive and conventional manufacturing resources and quantifies their potential with regard to flexibility and manufacturing complexity. This also requires a structured process for the strategic production systems design that spans the design of various scenarios and allows for multi-dimensional and comparative analysis. A respective guideline for the planning of additive resources on a strategic level is being laid out in this paper.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, production system design, flexibility enhancement, strategic guideline

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Authors: Mahmoud Fouad, Mervat Badr, Marwa Ibrahim

Abstract:

Micro-grid system is presently considered a reliable solution for the expected deficiency in the power required from future power systems. Renewable power sources such as wind, solar and hydro offer high potential of benign power for future micro-grid systems. Micro-Grid (MG) is basically a low voltage (LV) or medium voltage (MV) distribution network which consists of a number of called distributed generators (DG’s); micro-sources such as photovoltaic array, fuel cell, wind turbine etc. energy storage systems and loads; operating as a single controllable system, that could be operated in both grid-connected and islanded mode. The capacity of the DG’s is sufficient to support all; or most, of the load connected to the micro-grid. This paper presents a micro-grid system based on wind and solar power sources and addresses issues related to operation, control, and stability of the system. Using Matlab/Simulink, the system is modeled and simulated to identify the relevant technical issues involved in the operation of a micro-grid system based on renewable power generation units.

Keywords: micro-grid system, photovoltaic, wind turbine, energy storage, distributed generation, modeling

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Authors: Edoba Bright Omoregie

Abstract:

Nigeria became a federation in 1954 six years before it gained independence away from British colonial rule. The country has remained a federation since then despite the challenging circumstances of military rule and civil strife which have tasked its federal credentials. Since 1961, when it first decided a federalism dispute, cases over vertical and horizontal powers have inundated the country’s Supreme Court. In its current practice of federalism after democratic rule was resumed in 1999, the country has witnessed a spell of intergovernmental disputes over a good number of federalism issues. Such conflicts have eventually found their way to the Supreme Court for resolution, not as a final appellate court (which it is in other non-federal matters) but as a court of first and final instance following the constitutional provision granting the court such power. However, in April 2014 one of such disputes was denied hearing by the court when it declined original jurisdiction to determine the matter. The suit was instituted by one state of the federation against the federal government and the other 35 states challenging the collection of value added tax (a consumption tax)on certain goods and services within the state. The paper appraises the rationale of the court’s decision and reason that its decision to decline jurisdiction is the result of an avoidable misunderstanding of the dual sovereignty instituted by the federal system of Nigeria as well as a misconception of the role which the court is constitutionally assigned to play in resolving intergovernmental schisms in the federal system.

Keywords: dual sovereignty, federalism, intergovernmental conflict, Supreme Court

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Authors: Vasoontara Yiengprugsawan, Sam-ang Seubsman

Abstract:

As Thais live longer, caregivers will become even more important to social and healthcare systems. Commonly reported in many low and middle‐income countries in Asia, formal social welfare services to support caregivers are lacking and informal family support will be required for all levels of care. In 2005, 87,151 open‐university adults were recruited to the Thai Cohort Study, with the majority aged between 25 and 39 years, and residing nationwide. At the 4‐year follow up in 2009 (n=60569) and the 8‐year follow‐up in 2013 (n=42785), prospective cohort participants were asked if they provide care for chronically ill, disabled, or frail family members. Among Thai cohort members reporting between 2009 and 2013, approximately 56% were not caregivers in either year, 24.5% reported providing care in 2009 only, 8.6% in 2013 only, and 10.6% reported providing care at both time points. Caregivers in the cohort reported providing financial support, help with shopping, emotional support, and assist with daily activities. Kessler 6 psychological distress scale, measured in both 2009 and 2013, was used as the primary outcome of a relationship between caregiving status and mental health. Using multivariate logistic regression, our 4‐year longitudinal findings revealed that cohort members who reported providing care at both time points were 1.4 to 1.6 times more likely to report high psychological distress than non‐caregivers, after accounting for potential covariates. With increasing needs for informal care provided by family members, the future health and social welfare system will need to provide adequate support to caregivers (e.g., respite care, clinical support and information for the family, and awareness of mental health among caregivers).

Keywords: family caregivers, psychological distress, prospective cohort, longitudinal study, Thailand

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